Bouvet Island

Bouvet Island

As the most remote island in the world and a sub-Antarctic volcanic island, Bouvet Island is a truly remarkable place. Located at the southern end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, it is a dependency of Norway and has been declared an uninhabited nature reserve. This signifies that the island is free of human inhabitants and is carefully preserved as a natural habitat for wildlife. Although Bouvet Island is located in the South Atlantic, it is not considered part of the southern region which is covered by the Antarctic Treaty System. This makes its status as a sanctuary even more significant, as it is not subject to the same regulations and agreements that govern activities in the Antarctic region. Because of its importance as a breeding ground for seabirds, the island has been designated an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. There were an estimated 117,000 breeding penguins on the island in 1978-1979, made up of Macaroni Penguins and a smaller number of Chinstrap and Adélie Penguins, but this was reduced to 62,000 in 1989-1990. The most important colony for penguins is Nyrøysa, followed by Posadowskybreen, Kapp Circoncision, Norvegiaodden and opposite Larsøya. With 100,000 individuals, the Southern Fulmar is the most abundant non-penguin bird in the area. Seals, especially the Southern Elephant Seal and the Antarctic Fur Seal, which breed on the island, are the only non-bird species on the island. Nyrøysa had 88 Elephant Seal pups and 13,000 Fur Seal pups in 1998-1999. In the surrounding waters, Southern Right Whale, Humpback Whale, Fin Whale, Southern Right Whale Dolphin, Hourglass Dolphin and Killer Whale can be seen.